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16th April 2007
Dear Reader,
This week I am going to discuss:
- How Sammy Farha struck again and
- where you can practice playing poker and learning %odds for
FREE !
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I hope you have had a good week playing poker, I am happy to report
that I qualified for last Sunday’s $300K Tournament for $26 and
came 60th out of 1978 players netting $780 ! Verrrrry nice
!!
I finally went out making a move with a Pair of 9’s and came up
against someone holding a Pair of Aces, well there’s not a lot
you can do about that – The first prize was $60,000 so I’m sure
I’ll get there one day – it’s a question of ‘when’ rather than
‘if’ as far as I’m concerned !
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They think it’s all over…
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I was thinking about if you were to describe Football to someone
who knew nothing about the game – there would be certain Classic
Goals which you would absolutely HAVE to tell them about…
i.e. Geoff Hurst’s “They think it’s all over” goal –v- West Germany
in 1966, and Maradonna’s “Hand of God” goal for Argentina –v-
England in the 1986 World Cup - I’m sure you can think of some
more…
Well, in Poker, there are also several Classic Hands which every
experienced Poker Player knows about - I have already described
the infamous Sammy Farha –v- Barry Greenstein High Stakes Poker
Hand – if you missed it, just go to my website: www.holdorfold.co.uk
and you can read it there –
This week, I am going to highlight another Classic Poker Hand
– this one is from the WSOP (World Series of Poker) Main Event
in 2005 held in Las Vegas - There was a $10,000 buy-in and the
first prize was a cool $7.5m (that’s MILLION) that Joseph Hachem,
a Chiropractor from Australia, eventually won after 6 days of
play, beating 5,619 other players.
It was the VERY first hand in the WSOP 2005 Main Event
and a gorgeous chap called Oliver Hudson was sat at the same table
as Sammy Farha. Oliver is the son of Goldie Hawn, brother of Kate
Hudson and known more for his acting skills than his Poker skills
- Sammy is the renown Lebanese player who has a reputation of
being an arrogant player that winds people up –
So imagine the scene… there is Oliver, very first hand on the
very first day of the biggest tournament of the year – all the
camera’s are on him as he’s a well-known celebrity and he is sitting
down at the table with Sammy Farha – also a well-known celebrity
albeit in the Poker World.
The Tournament Director says, into the microphone to a packed
room, the immortal words, the words that kick the adrenalin into
action – “Shuffle Up and Deal”
Sammy is dealt Ace 10 offsuit and starts the action off by betting
200 chips. It gets folded around to Oliver Hudson who the commentators
say was voted one of People Magazines’ 50 Most Beautiful People
–
Oliver picks up a Pair of 10’s and raises to 450 chips – At this
point, as one of Sammy’s cards is a 10, of which Oliver has two
of, the odds are 69% to Oliver winning this hand before the flop.
Sammy calls the bet and the flop comes down A, A, 10 !! My goodness
!!
This gives Oliver a Full House with 10’s over Aces but also gives
Sammy the “Nuts” – a Full House but with Ace’s over 10’s – you
just have to feel for Oliver – there is not a single card that
can give him the winning hand and he thinks he’s
sitting there with the nuts !
Sammy is as cool as cool can be, knowing he’s got the absolute
best hand and is trying to work out how to extract as many chips
as he can from Oliver.
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Slow-Playing
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Both players check the flop, this is known as Slow-Playing – They
are both trying to make out or pretend that they have weak hands
while lying in wait for the other to put some chips in.
A Queen comes down for the Turn and Oliver bets out 300 chips
– and Sammy re-raises to 1300 chips – which is a lot, especially
as this is the VERY FIRST hand of what is going to be a long-haul
six-day tournament –
Oliver barely hesitates, this is just what he’s been waiting for
– he puts ALL his chips in – all 10,000 of them and of course
Sammy calls straight away. Oliver confidently shows his Pair of
10’s and then looks over in total disbelief to see Sammy Farha’s
A, 10 – “ Oh My God !!” exclaims Oliver – a meaningless
Jack comes on the River and a huge smirk comes over Sammy’s face
–
Oliver gets up from the table in Total Shock crying “First
Hand - First ******* Hand!” – and Sammy says “I had to
win the first hand though” as he gathers Oliver’s Chips and
grins from ear to ear, waves to the crowd and has a sip of his
drink.
You can view this hand on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc9I7DJqRWc
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POST MORTEM
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Oliver didn’t do anything wrong at all, he hit a Full House on
the flop and only someone holding A 10 or a Pair of Aces could
beat him – the odds for that are so unlikely, he would win with
his holding 99.9% of the time – he was just so unlucky for this
to happen to him, especially on the first hand of the WSOP, with
all the cameras on him and to Sammy Farha of all people
– definitely a magical Classic Poker hand of all time.
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Tip of the Week
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My tip for this week is a fabulous place to try out ideas and
see how the percentages work out. PartyPoker.com have a Poker
Trainer – You can find it under their Play Money tab – so this
is absolutely FREE – You can choose how many players you
would like at the table – and you can select Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced
–
When you get your first cards, it will tell you the Hand Value
and Pot Odds – it will also advise you how to play the hand in
%’s – i.e. Fold 100%, Call 0%, Raise 0% - Once the flop is shown,
it will also give you the Potential % of winning your hand –
It’s a great way of learning percentages, pot odds and getting
some experience in learning about the value of your hand. I would
definitely recommend spending some time on there whether you are
a rank beginner or an experienced player.
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Anyways - I’ve already qualified for this Sunday’s big tournament
so I hope I can get a better position than 60th – I’ll keep you
posted.
All the very best
Meg Arana
Hold or Fold |
